The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-12-24
UNMARKED GRAVES.
The Neglected Resting Places of Famous
Literary People.

'o 4 NV VI
Literary People.
1t is curious, and certainly not cred
table, that the graves of famous
literary people receive so little atten-
lion at the hands of living relatives
and descendants. even in the case of
those whose present comfortable cir
cumstances are chiefly the results OF
the hands that lie still in death.
Washington Irving's grave in quaint
and ancient Sleepy Hollow cemetery
is a dismallooking spot even in mid
summer, and in autumn and winter
the dreariness of the place is intensi-
fed. The slab that tells the visitor
that he stands at the grave of one Of
the greatest writer's America has ever
produced is badly damaged. Relic
hunters from all quarters of the globe
have clipped off large pieces of the
granite, and although every precau-
ton is apparently taken to prevent
vandalism, and a liberal reward Of.
fered by the cemetery people, the
practice goes on undated. The strict
watch recently set upon the grave has
resulted in new device by
visitors, who now deposit small
stones = and shells found in
other parts Of the cemetery
on the grave, and, resumlng their
walk for a brief while. return and
take away the stone or shell so that it
may be claimed for the relic that it
once rested on Irving's grave. Helen
Hunt Jackson's grave is kept bright
and attractive by the many visitors
who seek the rocky and evergreen
lowered sepulchre of the author OF
Pomona and drop flowers and
other tokens of love upon it. But for
these attentions of the outside world,
the grave would assume a dreary as.
pect, forlorn and uncared for. A
large number of visiting cards and
scraps of paper containing i%mpromptu
verses and culogistic memorials are
frequently found tucked in among the
evergreen branches. Fanny Oscood's
and Fanny FERNS graves at Mount
Auburn, near Boston. receive only the
visits Of a few ardent admirers, mos
ly elderly ladies. The last resting.
place of the gifted Alice and Phoebe
Cary, on the brow of the hill al
the entrance to Greenwood, Brook.
lyn, is sadly neglected now, and were
it not for the occasional garland OF
cluster of roses deposited there it
would be a dismal spot. The harrow
iron gate is badly rusted, the ever
green hedges are rapidly being obliter.
ated and the large block of granite
beneath which the gentle sisters
slumber is gradually sinking down.
ward and large holes underneath the
monument are visible. Horce Greeley,
the warm friend and adviser of the
Cary sisters until his death, kept his
promise made when, as pail bearer. he
agreed to look after their "%lonely
home and see to it that it looked
presentable TO the many visitors, but
now the oncc-tried' and able journalist
is also the tenant of u silent tomb Just
beyond the knoll where his gentle two
friends lie, and their remaining rela.
tives seem to care nothing for its APP
pearance. Mcdonald Clarke, "rhe
mad Broadway poet" and "Doe.
Sticks who married Fanny Ferns
daughter, are also cncofiined
in dreary plots of grounds at Green.
wood, almost forgotten by the world.
Mrs. Lydia Hunter Sigourney, who,
in her day, charmed thousands Oh
both sides of the ocean with her de-
lightful writings, rests in Hartford,
her old home. and although the atten.
ton of Harriet Beecher Stowe. MARK
Twain" Charles Dudley Warner and
of her old-time friends has fire.
qucntly been called to the shameful
of her grave, and the Sahara
descrt.like appearance it presents. by
travellers. yet nothing has been done tc
improve it. Susan Warner, also gained
respect and love of thousands by
her "Wide. Wide World'' and
"Queechy." lies in the military Gem.
ctery at West Point, with the sanction
Of the Secretary of Wharf.-The grave
forgotten by all except her devoted
sister Anna. who showers love and
upon the rcsting-place of her
who was so close a companion to her
life and presenting IN almost iso.
.ated instance of posthumous family
membranes of the grave Of the lit.
,rary dead.-N Y. Graphic.
A Ao,. ll,.n.